Christmas (in theory, anyway) is supposed to make us happy. The songs have happy tunes, whether Christian ones or just ones about snowmen. Bright lights and calls for goodwill to all are everywhere. (A lot of it is aspirational rather than reality, of course. I don’t get filled with happiness wandering through a large shopping …
It is commonplace for many people to listen to music constantly through the day. Their lives are set to a soundtrack of their own choosing. Whether walking along, catching a bus, or eating their meals, there is always music. Never silence, always music. So what is the problem, you might ask? I like music! What’s …
I have always been a big reader. In this age of distraction and clickbait viral videos, reading a book has become somewhat of a revolutionary act. Reading is far rarer than it should be. It is in reading books that we think deeply about a topic or enter the world through someone else’s perspective. If …
Exam times bring a special level of stress to most people who go through them. The better students push themselves, driven by a desire to get into the course they want or to achieve a score they have in mind. Struggling students can be driven by fear they won’t pass. Everyone feels the pressure of …
In Genesis 1 and 2, we notice a repeated chorus, that God said that various parts of the creation were “good” as he made them. And when it was completed, he declared it “very good”. Yet in this perfect world, in Genesis 2:18 we see the first thing that God says is “not good”. It’s …
We read of the first sin in Genesis 3. The core of the temptation the woman faced is in v5: For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” …
Life has some big important moments and a lot of smaller moments that seem less important. The big moments might include deciding to get married, accepting that job offer, or deciding to move countries. We want to make the right decisions at those key times in our lives. The big things do indeed matter a …
It can be hard work being a Christian in the workplace. For many people, they are the only Christian in their office or in their department or on their building site. The workplace culture might be challenging. Everyone else might have different values to you and spend their time and money in wildly different ways …
It is Reformation Day this week! (It happens to coincide with a large cultural festival marked by pumpkins, skeletons and ghosts, which is far less encouraging). Reformation Day is when we remember the time on October 31, 1517, when the German monk Martin Luther made his complaints about the state of the Roman Catholic Church …
There has been so much commentary in the past few years about the transgender movement. This has often ended up with Christians and transgender activists lining up on opposite sides from one another shouting opinions at on another. Too often the Christian traditional teaching on gender (which I hold to) comes across so poorly as …